Last week we went over what a long term SHTF event would look like. This week we are going to continue that theme by talking about some valuable SHTF skills for preppers, that could be important to know. While it’s impossible to know everything about everything, we can learn a little about a lot of things.
The skills, occupations and trades we have today could drastically change in a post collapse setting. A lot of jobs these days are behind a desk, in a cubicle, or retail sales. A post collapse scenario would require good old hands on work, rebuilding, and require much more self-sufficiency.
SPP236 Valuable SHTF Skills for Preppers
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Any thriving society needs a number of different people with different skills, but how this looks in a post collapse scenario is anyone’s guess. This article and podcast go through some of the general skills we should be learning now, and some of the trade skills that would be useful for rebuilding society.
General Preparedness Skills
First Aid: Learning about first aid is not only something very important in a SHTF scenario, it’s also useful today. Today it could save us money, in a SHTF situation, it could save our lives.
Fire Starting: If you have been interested in preparedness for any amount of time, you have probably heard about 50 ways to start a fire. This is because it’s absolutely necessary in any survival situation, and something we tend to take for granted.
Sanitation: When things are already bad, the last thing we want to do is make it worse by getting sick. Sanitation is not only washing the dishes, it’s waste Removal, trash removal and personal hygiene.
Shelter: While none of us plan on bugging out, we need to be ready if we need to. Learning how to build a shelter may be one of those things you never need to do, but if you ever need to, you’ll be glad you know how.
Sewing/Mending: In a SHTF scenario there will be no Walmart or clothing stores, so when the seat of your pants splits open, you’re going to be on your own. The same holds true for shoes, socks, and coats.
Ham Radio: When all other forms of communications are down, being able to operate a ham radio will make you a very valuable person. The great thing about ham radio is it doesn’t matter how old you are. As a matter of fact, the older you are, the more you probably know about ham radio.
Alternative Energy: If the power grid goes down we are going to need ways to generate electricity. While batteries are great, they won’t last forever. Learning about solar and other renewable energy could make life a whole lot easier when the sun goes down, or temperatures rise and fall.
Water Safety: Another thing that gets taken for granted these days is clean drinking water. A majority of people don’t even think twice about water, because it’s already clean when it comes out of their faucets. Learning about water filtration, and water safety should be a top priority with preparedness.
Food Preservation: While there are many options when it comes to food storage, we need to be ready when refrigeration is not an option. Learning skills like canning, dehydrating, and how to package food to expend it’s shelf life are all important.
Gardening: Depending on how long a situation lasts, the food storage you have will eventually run out. Learning how to garden is a way to replenish your food storage, but it does have a learning curve. Start practicing now, and learn what works, and what doesn’t.
Hunting/Foraging: Another way to replenish your food supply is leaning about hunting and foraging. while the availability of different animals and plants will very depending on your situation, this could be helpful in an emergency. If you keep animals for food (like chickens and rabbits) you will also need to know how to process them, and breed them.
Self Defense: From hand guns to your hands, there are many different types of self defense for preppers. Regardless which method(s) you use, this is important for everyday life, as well as a post collapse or SHTF situation.
Cooking from Scratch: If you learn to cook from scratch, it not only increases your food storage options, it also get’s you ready for when the boxed meals and fast food isn’t available. Learning to make bread is one of the easiest ways to learn to cook from scratch, and would be great to have in an SHTF scenario.
Primitive Skills: Leaning some primitive skills is not only fun to do, but it teaches you how to think outside the box. Supplies might be in shots supply in a post collapse society, and knnowing how to “MacGyver” things might be important.
10 Important Trade Skills
In the show we also talked about 10 trade skills that would be useful in the rebuilding stages of a collapse scenario. These are not in any certain order, because it all depends on the situation and the community.
While there are far more than just 10, these are the first that came to mind. If you have any ideas that aren’t listed here, make sure and leave a comment below.
1 – Auto Mechanics
2 – Construction Workers
3 – Electricians
4 – Military Experience
5 – Welders
6 – Blacksmiths
7 – Gunsmiths & Reloading
8 – Teachers
9 – Plumbers
10 – Anyone in the Medical Field
Tin Foil Hat Time
For those of you who don’t know, Lisa and I do a segment in the show called “Tin Foil Hat Time” where we discuss things that some people may consider a little extreme or unlikely. This week we discussed how the CDC is discussing the “Public Health Response to a Nuclear Detonation”.
Below are some of the links we talked about, and the PDF they put together.
Nuke Notes and Links
Survivalist Prepper Academy Discount
For a limited time I have reduced the price to join the Survivalist Prepper Academy to half price. The academy is a great place to learn about preparedness all in one place. We also have an archive of our past podcasts, different preparedness courses, and other helpful preparedness resources.
Click here to see what the Academy is all about.
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